Meet. Write. Cast. Rehearse. Direct. Perform. This is the process for the 24 Hour Theatre event put on by Creighton’s theater honors fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega Friday into Saturday.
The event is for inspiring writers, actors and directors as they all work together to create a play in time for performance on Saturday. The theme is chosen on Friday night, so the participants will have no idea what they will be writing about until then.
“Due to the nature of the event, we can’t do too much to get ready for the event as Alpha Psi Omega,” Mary Kate Gliedt, Arts & Sciences senior and president of Alpha Psi Omega, said. “We just prepare to arrive at the event on Friday full of enthusiasm and willingness to support theater on Creighton’s campus and have a ton of fun doing it.”
The fraternity invites anyone who wants to write or act to the event. People don’t have to be a theatre major or even an actor to participate. Arts & Sciences senior Matt Winterhalter gave writing a try last year.
“The closest connection I have with the theater world is playing in the pit orchestra occasionally,” Winterhalter said. “I wanted to find another way to get my name in the program, and 24-Hour Theater seemed to be a good way to make that happen. It is really fun to include inside jokes and relevant culture references. Everything really turns out to be a parody of theater.”
The event is a success despite the tight schedule that the fraternity has written. This allows for everything to get done on time.
“Plays are due to directors and technicians around 4 or 5 a.m. on Saturday, and then the actors are called at 6 a.m. to come for an all-day rehearsal,” Gleidt said. “From 6 a.m. until about 5 p.m., the directors and actors rehearse the plays while the technicians ready the space. At 5 p.m., we have a tech rehearsal, and then at 6:30 p.m. the actors begin getting ready to perform.”
“Being a writer was interesting because of the time frame we had,” Winterhalter said. “As the night went on, ideas would get wackier until it was a simply a necessity to put words on paper before the deadline.” This event also allows others to see what it is really like to be a playwright.
“It really creates some respect for the professionals while giving the opportunity for the amateurs to have their fun,” Winterhalter said.
The play has to be ready to perform Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with an encore performance at 10 p.m. To encourage attendance and exposure to Creighton theater, both of the Saturday performances are free for the public.